Roger Stone Compares Andrew Cuomo to Hitler and Stalin in 'Mass Murderers' Meme

Roger Stone, longtime friend and ally of former President Donald Trump, has compared New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to 20th-century dictators following the Democrat's comments on gun control.

Stone posted a meme on Gab on Thursday, a social media site popular with conservatives, showing Cuomo with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Chinese dictator Mao Zedong.

The image featured the words: "Mass murderers agree gun control works." This appears to be a reference to Cuomo's recent tweet about gun control and the scandal about nursing home deaths in New York.

Following two recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia and Boulder, Colorado, Cuomo took to Twitter to tout his state's gun laws and advocate for a new federal approach.

"2 deadly mass shootings within a week. This is NOT the "normal" we want to get back to," Cuomo wrote on Wednesday.

"In New York, we have passed some of the strongest gun safety laws in the US. But we need nationwide reform. NOW. End the trauma. End the bloodshed."

Cuomo is currently dealing with a number of scandals that have led to calls for his resignation, suggestions he could be impeached and serious questions about the three-term governor's political future.

Stone's post obliquely referred to a Cuomo administration policy that required the state's nursing homes to take back residents who had been sent to hospital with COVID-19 after they had recovered. Critics charged that this had caused an increase in the number of COVID-related deaths in nursing homes.

A report from New York's State Department of Health found that the policy was not responsible for an increase in the number of deaths, according to The New York Times. However, the report raised questions about how the state had reported deaths.

In a January report, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged that the Cuomo administration undercounted nursing home deaths by excluding nursing home residents who had died after being transferred to hospital. Cuomo later admitted as much but cited concerns about then-President Donald Trump's reaction, suggesting he would use the figures as part of a political attack.

Stone's meme restates a popular right-wing claim that 20th-century dictators—in particular Hitler—instituted strict gun control measures and even confiscation when they rose to power as a means to facilitate genocide.

The accuracy of these claims is historically questionable. Fact-checking sites like Snopes and PolitiFact have frequently had to debunk claims associating gun control with genocide. These claims have often taken the form of popular internet memes.

Stone was convicted on seven felony counts in November, 2019, including lying to Congress, on charges arising from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Former President Trump initially commuted Stone's 40-month prison sentence. He then pardoned Stone in December 2020.